This thesis, in collaboration with Rockwell-Collins France, forms part of the development of an X-band FMCW airborne radar designed for obstacles detection and collision avoidance. More precisely, this thesis deals with the problem of detecting targets which exhibit a collision trajectory with the radar carrier, in presence of ground clutter. Target detection performances are highly degraded when the targets of interest fall into ground clutter. The main goal of this thesis is to develop signal processing methods to increase radar detection capacities and recognition for collision targets inside ground clutter. First, we give a brief review of signal processing methods for target detection using an airborne FMCW radar : conventional beamforming, range migration compensation, double-FFTs for Range-Doppler Map visualization. We then derive an adaptive antenna array processing to separate ground clutter and fixed hazardous obstacles above the ground (cables, pylons, buildings, ...) using their difference in elevation angle. In the second part of this thesis, we use a long integration time and include extra information on the time model of a range cell signal : Doppler frequency variation. A collision target does not exhibit Doppler frequency ariation, whereas fixed obstacle or ground clutter exhibits a known variation depending on the carrier velocity and the aspect angle. We take advantage of this variation first to separate a cable from a pylon, and then separate collision target from ground clutter. We finally tackle the problem of adaptively detecting a collision mobile spread target in ground clutter region. The proposed algorithms in this thesis have been successively tested on experimental data.

This thesis, in collaboration with Rockwell-Collins France, forms part of the development of an X-band FMCW airborne radar designed for obstacles detection and collision avoidance. More precisely, this thesis deals with the problem of detecting targets which exhibit a collision trajectory with the radar carrier, in presence of ground clutter. Target detection performances are highly degraded when the targets of interest fall into ground clutter. The main goal of this thesis is to develop signal processing methods to increase radar detection capacities and recognition for collision targets inside ground clutter. First, we give a brief review of signal processing methods for target detection using an airborne FMCW radar : conventional beamforming, range migration compensation, double-FFTs for Range-Doppler Map visualization. We then derive an adaptive antenna array processing to separate ground clutter and fixed hazardous obstacles above the ground (cables, pylons, buildings, ...) using their difference in elevation angle. In the second part of this thesis, we use a long integration time and include extra information on the time model of a range cell signal : Doppler frequency variation. A collision target does not exhibit Doppler frequency ariation, whereas fixed obstacle or ground clutter exhibits a known variation depending on the carrier velocity and the aspect angle. We take advantage of this variation first to separate a cable from a pylon, and then separate collision target from ground clutter. We finally tackle the problem of adaptively detecting a collision mobile spread target in ground clutter region. The proposed algorithms in this thesis have been successively tested on experimental data.

Satellite communication is the achievement of more than 50 years of research in the fields of telecommunications and space technologies.First satellites had exorbitant costs for very limited performances. Technological advances occurred in these areas have helped them to become commercially feasible and satisfying. This enable the increase of satellite launches and thus, building complete satellite networks.Today, there are many GEO or LEO satellite constellations used for civilian or military applications. In general, routing in these constellations is done by pre-computing existing routes. These routes are then used for a given period and refreshed if needed. This type of routing is optimal only on deterministic topologies as a consequence we need to consider other solutions if we relax this assumption. The objective of this thesis is to explore alternatives to pre-computed routing. As a potential solution, we propose to assess the suitability of replication based routing protocols issued from the world of delay tolerant networks, DTN. To provide a relevant framework to study this topic, we focus on a particular constellation that present a quasi-deterministic nature and do not provide direct connectivity between all nodes of the system. In a second part, we focus on the modeling of the Binary Spray and Wait, routing protocol. We develop a model that can theoretically determine the distribution of end-to-end delay for any type of network, homogeneous and heterogeneous. Finally, we present a possible use of this model to conduct more in-depth theoretical analysis.

Satellite communication is the achievement of more than 50 years of research in the fields of telecommunications and space technologies.First satellites had exorbitant costs for very limited performances. Technological advances occurred in these areas have helped them to become commercially feasible and satisfying. This enable the increase of satellite launches and thus, building complete satellite networks.Today, there are many GEO or LEO satellite constellations used for civilian or military applications. In general, routing in these constellations is done by pre-computing existing routes. These routes are then used for a given period and refreshed if needed. This type of routing is optimal only on deterministic topologies as a consequence we need to consider other solutions if we relax this assumption. The objective of this thesis is to explore alternatives to pre-computed routing. As a potential solution, we propose to assess the suitability of replication based routing protocols issued from the world of delay tolerant networks, DTN. To provide a relevant framework to study this topic, we focus on a particular constellation that present a quasi-deterministic nature and do not provide direct connectivity between all nodes of the system. In a second part, we focus on the modeling of the Binary Spray and Wait, routing protocol. We develop a model that can theoretically determine the distribution of end-to-end delay for any type of network, homogeneous and heterogeneous. Finally, we present a possible use of this model to conduct more in-depth theoretical analysis.

Modern satellite communication systems mainly rely on time sharing to optimize the throughput. Each receiver uses the channel during a given fraction of time. During this period, the transmission parameters (i.e., the modulation and the coding rate) are chosen in order to transmit as much information as possible. The scheme is easy to implement which explains its popularity. However, it is today well established that time sharing is not optimal in terms of spectrumefficiency offered to the receivers. Indeed, the scheme that consists in sending superposed data offers better performance than the time sharing. This thesis investigates the application of superposition coding in satellite communication systems. First of all, we study the performance of hierarchical modulation which is an implementation of superposition coding at the modulation level.We propose a performance evaluation method for such modulations.We also compare the performance of hierarchical and non hierarchical modulations in terms of spectrum efficiency and link unavailability. These two criteria are very important for broadcast system and we show that hierarchical modulations often offer better performance than non hierarchical modulations. Then, we study the performance improvement in terms of spectrum efficiency when using hierarchical modulation in satellite communication systems. Two issues are addressed. The first one is how to group the receivers in pairs in order to transmit data with a hierarchical modulation. The second issue is the computation of the spectrumefficiency.We show that significant gains are possible depending on the system configuration. The last part considers a system where multiple users communicate through a satellite. The satellite acts as a relay in our scenario.We propose a communication scheme where several users emit at the same time with appropriate transmitting power. Thus the signals naturally superpose and generate interference. The receivers use two mechanisms for decoding the signals : physical layer network coding and demodulation of superposed constellations. Finally, we explain how the performance improvements obtained by superposition coding in several scenarios open perspectives for future work.

In the domain of satellite networks, the emergence of low-cost interactive terminals motivates the need to develop and implement multiple access protocols able to support dierent user proles. In particular, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) have recently proposed random access protocols such as Contention Resolution Diversity Coded ALOHA (CRDSA) and Irregular Repetition Slotted ALOHA (IRSA). These methods are based on physical-layer network coding and successive interference cancellation in order to attempt to solve the collisions problem on a return channel of type Slotted ALOHA. This thesis aims to provide improvements of existing random access methods. We introduce Multi-Slot Coded Aloha (MuSCA) as a new generalization of CRDSA. Instead of transmitting copies of the same packet, the transmitter sends several parts of a codeword of an error-correcting code ; each part is preceded by a header allowing to locate the other parts of the codeword. At the receiver side, all parts transmitted by the same user, including those are interfered by other signals, are involved in the decoding. The decoded signal is then subtracted from the total signal. Thus, the overall interference is reduced and the remaining signals are more likely to be decoded. Several methods of performance analysis based on theoretical concepts (capacity computation, density evolution) and simulations are proposed. The results obtained show a signicant gain in terms of throughput compared to existing access methods. This gain can be even more increased by varying the codewords stamping rate. Following these concepts, we also propose an application of physical-layer network coding based on the superposition modulation for a deterministic access on a return channel of satellite communications. We observe a gain in terms of throughput

In this paper, we study an interference relay network with a satellite as relay. We propose a cooperative strategy based on physical layer network coding and superposition modulation decoding for uni-directional communications among users. The performance of our solution in terms of throughput is evaluated through capacity analysis and simulations that include practical constraints such as the lack of synchronization in time and frequency. We obtain a significant throughput gain compared to the classical time sharing case.

The automatic identification system (AIS) is a system allowing ships and coast stations to exchange some information by VHF radio. This information includes the identifier, status, location, direction and speed of the emitter. The aim of this thesis is to allow the reception of AIS messages by low Earth orbit satellites without modifying the existing ship equipments. With this system, it becomes possible to know the position of all ships over the Earth. As a consequence, several new services become available, such as global traffic monitoring or determining boat location (for ship-owners). Satellite reception of AIS signals is subjected to a higher noise level when compared to ground level reception. This noise makes classical demodulation and decoding methods unusable. A first contribution of this thesis is to develop new demodulators using error correction methods. These demodulators take advantage of the presence of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) block in the messages as well as known information about the structure of messages and data. Generalizations of the proposed receiver have also been studied in order to take into account the phase noise of the received signals and the possible collision of messages sent simultaneously by several vessels. The last part of this thesis is devoted to the study of localization methods for ships that do not transmit their location in AIS messages. This localization takes advantage of information contained in the received messages such as the propagation delay and the carrier frequency shift due to the Doppler effect, and a ship movement model.

The automatic identification system (AIS) is a system allowing ships and coast stations to exchange some information by VHF radio. This information includes the identifier, status, location, direction and speed of the emitter. The aim of this thesis is to allow the reception of AIS messages by low Earth orbit satellites without modifying the existing ship equipments. With this system, it becomes possible to know the position of all ships over the Earth. As a consequence, several new services become available, such as global traffic monitoring or determining boat location (for ship-owners). Satellite reception of AIS signals is subjected to a higher noise level when compared to ground level reception. This noise makes classical demodulation and decoding methods unusable. A first contribution of this thesis is to develop new demodulators using error correction methods. These demodulators take advantage of the presence of a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) block in the messages as well as known information about the structure of messages and data. Generalizations of the proposed receiver have also been studied in order to take into account the phase noise of the received signals and the possible collision of messages sent simultaneously by several vessels. The last part of this thesis is devoted to the study of localization methods for ships that do not transmit their location in AIS messages. This localization takes advantage of information contained in the received messages such as the propagation delay and the carrier frequency shift due to the Doppler effect, and a ship movement model.